quorum call:

quorum call:

the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i move to proceed to calendar number 44 s. 601. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: motion to proceed to calendar number 44, s. 601, a bill to provide for conservation and development of water and related resources and so forth and for other purposes. mr. reid: i have a cloture motion at the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: cloture motion: we

the undersigned senators in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate hereby move to bring to a close the debate on the motion to proceed to calendar number 44, s. 601, a bill to provide for the conservation and development of water and related resources so forth and for other purposes signed by 17 senators as follows. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent that reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum required under rule 22 be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: and also that cloture vote occur on monday, may 6 following the disposition of the marketplace fairness act. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to a period of morning business -- so used to doing that. i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to executive session to consider nominations of calendar number 24, 25, 61 and 89.

the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i ask, madam president, that the nomination be confirmed en bloc, the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid on the table, no intervening action or debate and no further motions be in order to any of the nominations and related statements be printed in the record and president obama be notified of the senate's action and the senate resume legislative session. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent that at a time to be determined by me and in consultation with senator mcconnell the senate proceed to executive session to consider calendar number 42, there be one hour for debate equally divided in the usual form, upon the use or yielding back of time the senate proceed to vote with no intervening action or debate on the nomination, and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid on the table with no intervening action or debate, and no further motions be in order to the nomination, that each statement related to the nomination be printed in the record and that president obama be immediately notified of the senate's action and the senate

resume legislative session. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i now ask that the senate proceed to s. 853 introduced earlier today. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: s. 853, a bill to provide the secretary of transportation with the flexibility to transfer certain funds to prevent reduced operations and staffing of the federal aviation administration and for other purposes. the presiding officer: without objection the senate will proceed to the measure. mr. reid: madam president, with the distinguished senator from maine here, i ask unanimous consent that the bill be read three times, passed, the motion to reconsider be laid on the table, no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i now ask consent that if the senate receives a bill from the house and the text of that bill is identical to s. 853, the bill be considered

read three times, passed and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid on the table. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: thank you. before we hear from my friend from maine, i appreciate very much her tenacity, her diligence and that of senator rockefeller and others. and this is something that has been difficult, but it is the right thing to do. and hopefully when we get back we can have something broader in scope than just this. collins -- ms. collins: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from maine. ms. collins: madam president, i'm delighted that the senate has just passed a bipartisan bill to resolve a serious problem confronting the american traveling public and our economy. i want to thank the majority leader, senator reid; the minority leader, the republican leader, senator mcconnell; and all the staff who have worked so hard to make this half.

i'm very pleased to be joined in sponsoring this bill by many of our colleagues, including senator rockefeller, senator thune, senator mark udall, senator risch, senator roberts, senator isaacson, senator mccaskill, senator hagan, the presiding officer, senator toomey, senator murkowski, senator warner, senator begich, senator nelson and senator heller. as the ranking member of the transportation appropriations committee, i've been very concerned about the serious delaying that have been caused by the f.a.a. furloughs of the air traffic controllers. in fact, secretary of transportation lahood and f.a.a. administrator heurta met with me this morning to discuss this problem and a proposed

solution. madam president, the collins-rockefeller-thune-udall bill would restore the funding for these essential air traffic controller positions that should prevent the onerous delays that have been occurring and were only going to get worse as the traveling season reached its peak this summer. that would have had a ripple effect throughout the hospitality industry in particular and cause job losses that we can ill afford. i have a lengthier statement that explains exactly the provisions of this bill and how we are managing to do this without increasing funding and giving some flexibility to the secretary of transportation. i just want to point out that there literally have been thousands of flights delayed

since the furloughs went into effect, and i am so happy that we were able to work together across the aisle in a bipartisan way to resolve this problem. i would ask unanimous consent that my entire statement be entered into the record as if read. again, i want to thank senator reid and senator mcconnell for their cooperation in making this happen. it's nice to know that when we work together, we really can solve problems. thank you, madam president. mr. reid: madam president? the presiding officer: without objection. the majority leader. mr. reid: two very important things. one is final passage of the internet tax issue. that is because it was a bipartisan issue. the same with -- i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to -- and do it en bloc s. res. 118, 119, 120, 122, 123, 124 and

s. 125. the presiding officer: without objection the senate will proceed to the measure. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to, the preambles be agreed to, the motions to reconsider be laid on the table en bloc, there be no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent that the appointments at the desk be, appear separately in the record as if made by the chair. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent not withstanding the upcoming recess or adjournment of the senate the president of the senate, president pro tempore of the senate, the majority and minority leaders be authorized to make appointments to commissions, committees, boards, conferences or interparliamentary conferences authorized by law by concurrent action of the two houses by order of the senate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the senate complete -- when it completes its business today it adjourn and convene for pro forma sessions only with no

business conducted on the following dates and times. following each pro forma session the senate adjourn until the next pro forma session. friday, april 26, 11:30 a.m.. april 30, 10 thao*pl. may 3, 2:00 p.m.. the senate adjourn until may 6, 2013. following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour deemed expired, the time for the two leaders be reserved for use later in the day and following any leader remarks the senate be in morning business until 5:30 p.m. with senators permitted to speak for up to ten minutes each. further, i ask that the previous order with respect to s. 743 be modified to provide that at 5:30 p.m. the senate resume consideration of s. 743, all postcloture time be considered expired. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: madam president, appreciate your patience. there will be up to three roll call votes monday, may 6. there will be two votes in order to complete marketplace fairness and a third vote on a motion to

invoke cloture on the motion to proceed. if there is no further business to come before the senate, i ask we adjourn under the previous order. the presiding officer: the senate stands adjourned until senate stands adjourned until

coming up on c-span2 tonight a hearing on the threat of nuclear and biological attack. new york city deputy commissioner for counterterrorism richard daddario testified. he joined representatives from the homeland security department on how state and local governments can prepare for a biological threat. this hearing is an hour and 20 minutes. >> good morning. the committee on homeland

security subcommittee on counterterrorism and intelligence will come to order. the subcommittees meeting today to give testimony examining the threats of weapons of mass destruction and attacks on the homeland and federal state and local capability to respond to such attacks and they now recognize myself for an opening statement. i want to say at the outset that this hearing was scheduled a wild back and it was postponed. i think the witnesses today for their forbearance to work with us in scheduling a new date. obviously at the time this was originally scheduled we did not know that the attack in boston was going to occur and to me it makes today's hearing all the more meaningful although we aren't focused on that a a particular and i'm sure the chairman of the committee is going to schedule increased into the boston matter. i think today certainly we can

relate to boston and it shows the various elements and the scope of the type of attacks that we have to constantly be on our guard against dealing with international jihad. without i want to welcome our distinguished witnesses for this hearing and it really is appropriate to kickoff the subcommittees that could ease of the 113th congress. i propose working with members of the subcommittee special of the ranking member mr. higgins who is a colleague from new york and a friend to examine current and emerging threats and ensure that all necessary efforts to those who sponsor a terrorist attack and conduct oversight over information-sharing of all levels of government and i speak for myself and i'm certain the ranking member as well, the subcommittee will be done in a bipartisan way with again working to the extent we possibly can to address this issue which the issue of terrorism which affects us

whether democratic or republican north or south but particularly in new york where we have -- had a situation last week with the announcement of the plot by the canadian mounted police which would have affect did residents of new york going through the border it represents and a loss of human life. where all in this together. last week the attacks in boston which killed three people and wounded 180's attractive reminder of the continued terrorist threat facing the homeland and hopefully this will be a wake-up call to all of our people especially members of congress who somehow feel the war on terrorism is over and homeland security funding is a target to be cut when in fact to meet the threat is as great as it ever was.

in many ways even more dangerous than before september 11. the unfortunate reality is that using on line instruction used by magazine terrace were able to construct lethal improvised explosive devices and that references any training they may have had overseas. while this hearing is not focused on the boston attack specifically we have to ask what the possibility is for terrorists to a acquire nuclear mattel are -- materials and use those as an end troop feist explosive device. you have to ask what our responsibility response capabilities look like in that event. when you think of the carnage caused in many ways in the country in the city came to a hault for four days from these two ieds. two ieds.(.ecl). you can imagine the consequences if that had been a radiological

or nuclear art dirty bomb attack. we don't have to look far to see that the wmd threat is real. we saw hreaas certainly made threats against the united states. we had kim jong-un with the u.s. mainline strike targeting major american cities and iran's ahmadinejad threatens and while missiles cannot reach our shores and while we work previously to reduce arms it hasn't succeeded. 10 years ago al qaeda sought and received islamic religious ruling authorizing the use of weapons of mass destruction against infidels. al qaeda has sought the weapons for 20 years in the past six years terrorists have launched several attacks on facilities

housing pakistan several dozen nuclear weapons. a nuclear event in any u.s. city would be a catastrophe. fo exist since it's estimated at ground burst of a 150-kiloton advised that the base of an unnamed actuated manhattan at noon on a workday would kill or wound more than 1.5 million innocent people. that is why president obama stated that the single biggest threat to our security both short-term and medium-term and long-term would be the possibility of a terrorist organization obtaining a nuclear weapon. al qaeda is trying to secure a nuclear weapon, a weapon of mass destruction and that they have no propulsion of using and that's a quote from president obama. an attack using a less sophisticated rheological dispersion device alm often called a dirty bomb would be less than a nuclear blast but would still involve the loss of human life and economic and

environmental and psychological impacts on our nation. our first line of defense against rogue states or terror groups and weapons of mass destruction are the counter proliferation and counterterrorism efforts of our intelligence community and federal law enforcement. our next line of defense is our nations military force. a last line of defense, the frontline defenders responsible for intercepting and it we are bomb are the department of homeland security's domestic nuclear detection office and state and local police representing i'm proud to say by richard daddario of the new york city police department which has 1000 police police officers working day in and day out on counterterrorism. the nypd participates in the dhs by the security of the city's program which has provided 8500 radiological year's and trains 13,000 police officers and

conducted 100 drills. last year dhs expanded security and cities to an acra city los angeles. richard daddario the program has come a long way. i remember the first time it was first being rolled out and they were testing it on the border between estero county and queens county on sunrise highway and the first guy that was stopped was a poor guy coming back from a stress test and it got pulled over and he said, you are nodding. he said my heart is in good shape but i'm going to have a heart attack right now. the lights were on and the helicopters were moving. he thought we had our first nuclear terrorists. if poor guy was -- with radiation. anyways essential to the security of the city because similar to what happened in london madrid it's believed that the next threat against major city will be launched from the suburbs and as bad as that would

be if we were to have a dirty bomb it would be that much wor and that is why this secure the cities program that is transferatransfera ble to virtually every other urban area in the country. at today's hearing will examine the threat of a chemical biological nuclear or radiological attack, homeland through federal state and local government to detect and respond to such attacks and identify information-sharing again always with the backdrop of austin which again if anything positive comes from it is a reminder of how real the threat it is and whenever we discuss how bad that wasn't how much worse it could've been could have been if it would have been a nuke era radioactive device. in closing i i want to come in the obama administration's firm line against north korea. republican or democrat we stand shoulder-to-shoulder with our south korean allies against aggression and i also commend the administration for its continuation and expansion of securing the cities program.

i now look forward to testimony of the witnesses and first i want to recognize again a good friend and outstanding member of congress from upstate new york, which sometimes we refer to as southern canada the gentleman from new york and ranking member mr. -- >> thank you mr. chairman for welding this hearing and look forward to working with you toward our mutual objectives of protecting the homeland and strengthening america's influence abroad. i would also like to thank the witnesses for their testimony. let me also publicly thank the fbi, joint terrorism task force in the department of homeland security and state and local officials for their efforts in never-ending the suspect in the boston marathon bombings. on monday as the chairman mentioned the royal community mounted police announced that they along with the fbi and the department of homeland security

disrupted a terrorist plot to attack a commuter train that runs from toronto through the northern border to niagara falls falls into new york city. individuals charged allegedly received support from al qaeda in iran. some were surprised that al qaeda had a presence in iran. al qaeda is a sunni organization in shia majority country but we should remember that -- defeated in 2001 in afghanistan and many of bin laden's family members top lieutenants had self exiled to iran. i commend the work of the nine states intelligence and law enforcement agencies for successfully thwarting this attack on our nation. i believe it's the duty of the sub committee to examine threats from al qaeda in iran and i've talked to the chairman about the possibility of holding a hearing on the al qaeda presence in iran and any threat it poses to the united states.

according to secretary of state kerry iran is moving closer and closer to processing a nuclear weapon and nuclear proliferation in iran and syria and north korea should encourage us that we need to be prepared for an attack here on thed unite states. it would be unfortunate if a biological or chemical bomb cantor version in our country. weapons of mass destruction proliferation and terrorism. coin that report the commission told us that they believe a terrorist attack would occur somewhere in the world by 2013 and it's more likely to be an active biological terrorism. not 22 chandley recognize the possibility of a chemical biological radiological or nuclear attack from foreign and domestic actors however recognizing an attack does not equal being prepared for one. the weapons of mass destruction

commission conclue be fdefenses improving the ability to respond. last congress this committee held a hearing on the threat from chemical biological radiological and nuclear weapons. during those hearings our witness dr. leonard cole who is with us today stated the response plans and exercises fall short of optimal levels and planning that realistically are incorporated federal state local and private sector resources into a unified wmd response is largely absent. in order to successfully prepare for this kind of attack we must alter policy and ensure that first responders have the resources that are necessary to be effective. first responder grant her-gram are important to prepare and should be provided at adequate levels. as we saw in boston the actions of first responders were critical. their actions were necessary in preventing the catastrophic loss

of life in the wake of a chemical biological or radiological nuclear attack appeared understand today's testimony will highlight this part of the homeland security programs designed to prevent these attacks into cities facing the highest risks. those cities are new york city and los angeles. the cities are vulnerable. i particularly know new york city does because first responders from the region has assisted in the wake of the horrific 9/11 attacks and the devastation from hurricane sandy. we know that these attacks could happen anywhere and knowing this there should he and incentive to fund first responders consistently answering the call when our nation is in need. along with writing this information-sharing among state and local officials must be strong when it comes to intelligence involving chemical biological radiologiradiologi

cal or nuclear attacks. this congress i am an original co-sponsor of h.r. 1542 which strengthens intelligence information-sharing about weapons of mass destruction. it is my hope that this bipartisan legislation will be voted on favorably by this committee. this legislation is a step in the right direction but there is still much work to be done. first responders and i'll areas of risk need to be fully capable and equipped to handle an attack and this means full funding of state and local grant programs by the federal government and this includes the urban area security initiative. i will be introducing a reintroducing legislation to once again provide funding opportunities for communities like to follow and niagara falls under this program which were senselessly cut from funding. additionally coordination needs to be improved among all officials at the federal state and local level.

the response is expedient and efficient and -- i look forward to the testimony today and i thank you for being here again. mr. chairman i ask unanimous consent to allow congressman from congressman from texas to participate in this hearing. >> no objection. also ranking member you proposed a hearing on al qaeda in iran. i think that's a very good recommendation and we will certainly discuss it with the chairman of the full committee but i think this is certainly very, very appropriate timing for this committee because especially since now the homeland security element was brought and where based on what the rcmp said this is for the american homeland so it's not just a overseas issue that comes within the jurisdiction of our committee and subcommittee and

so you and i can discuss with the chairmen and ranking member but i certainly think it's an excellent idea and a very good proposal. thank you. other members of the committee might open statement submitted for the record and i'm very pleased to introduce the distinguished panel of witnesses we have before us on this vital topic. on the panel 1 is commissioner richard daddario deputy commissioner for counterterrorism with new york city police department. prior to assuming his position commission or daddario served as commissioner daddario served as the is department justices attache in moscow which is particularly interesting in view of all of -- i'm not going to ask about it today but especially last week with the fbi and russian intelligence and security services and i'm sure you have some thoughts on that. assistant u.s. attorney for the southern district of new york. in his current position commissioner daddario is responsible for the nypd detectives assigned to the jttf in the department's

counterterrorism and training and programs including the lower manhattan security initiative and the department of homeland security funded as we mentioned securing the cities initiative. and huban gowadia is the acting director of the domestic new beard detection office at the department of homeland security. in this capacity dr. gowadia's overseas interagency efforts for nuclear detection and forensics and directs research development and evaluation acquisition activities for the department's radiological and nuclear detection technologies. ..

and joint terrorism force agents. doc dirk cole is the director of the program on medicine security at the university of madison dentistry for bio defense. he's also an adjunct or festering schools department of emergency matters and a department of political science at rutgers university newark. dr. cole is a bioterrorism expert has written numerous books and articles throughout his career. i found out today one of the

student interviewed me a couple years ago. i hope i did okay. i don't know what i said. i would not recognize the witnesses and i want to especially thank the department for agreeing to participate on one panel to include government and nongovernment witnesses. i want to thank you for doing that. all the witnesses are reminded they written testimony will be submitted for the record and i recognize commissioner daddario for his testimony. commissioner daddario. >> chairman king, members of the committee, congressman higgins, congressman keating and congressman green come to thank you for the opportunity to speak at today's hearing. the subject, counterterrorism affairs is especially -- bush a

sure concern everyone in this room. some of those have been mentioned by chairman king in his opening i'll touch on some of those points in my statement. very briefly, al qaeda has exported the arab spring to the graded damage. thousands of men who have taken up arms to train, fight area, mali, yemen and other places in the middle east and north africa not to long ago heard that al qaeda was close to defeat. now we see it as an expansive space in which to operate, recruit, train and plan areas of the government and states rights ideology has significant public and political support. that ideology advocates attacks against the united states in the homeland. iran appears to be intent on creating components it needs to assemble and deliver nuclear bombs. if it does that and there's no reason to think it will not have

that capability soon, it will be difficult to prevent proliferation of nuclear weapons technology in the middle east. north korea's intentions are unknown to the police department and to need. however, hostility to the united states is obvious. the danger at man-to-man of its missile making expertise as they are for real. the new york city police department pays close attention to events because our city too often is the face of america to al qaeda and other enemies of the united states. i don't need to over the history of attacks and plots against her city. almost all the applaud and attacks mentioned recently, including the canada case that congressmen higgins referred to have in some ways resolve to

new york. it has been for alongtim and therefore the police department commit enormous resources to keep not only from conventional means of attack, but also an attack using a radiological or pervasive in. the possibility of such an attack is real. president obama house and they can come attention not appoints congressman king raised. the greatest danger to the american people is the threaof a terrorist attack with a nuclear weapon in the spread of nuclear weapons to dangerous enemies. he said it's threat of global nuclear war has gone down, but the risk of nuclear attack has gone up and we must ensure that terrorists never acquired a nuclear weapon. this is the most immediate and extreme threat to global security.

the problem as i've noticethe proliferation of nuclear tipped elegy, both to make bombs, to deliver bombs is spreading. we could not address the radiological and nuclear threat effectively without securing the cities program. if congress had not had the vision to fund securing cities, new york city would be completely vulnerable to a form of attackwhich might well overwhelm our capacity to recover. needless to say, the use of a dirty bomb would cause personal economic put upon psychological harm. the police department does not run securing the cities alone. it has 12 principal partners in new york, new jerd connecticut. this is a reachable program not

simply based in the city of new york. this will principal partners represent 150 local law enforcement and public safety agencies of the 40-mile radius of new york city. the n.y.p.d. and its regional partners have achieved several important accomplishments. among them would distribute them to use backpack protectors come a radiological identification and mobile detection systems to afford a measure of protection. we are close to achieving complete wireless conductivity by the n.y.p.d. and its lower manhattan security coordination center. data from devices is thereby viewable in real time and stored for analysis. butdveped one concept of operations for detection and interdiction of the six radioactive materials. this concept of operations will enable regional partners who lacked on a secure the region

based on 400 predetermine choke points in the face of an imminent threat. is contacted transportation exercises involving surreptitiously radiological substance with great success. we did on april 2011 with all our partners every friday. and had great success in finding each of the radiological sources deployed during nonexercise. although we've made great progress, much work needs to be done. and to put in place a permanent radiological defense to ring through the installation of six radiological detection equipment to monitor traffic at all bridges and tunnels that lead to the city. i'm not talking about a port overlain. but talk about ready commercially available devices, a raid in a way using software so they can detect a sour visitor traffic.

we also need to procure more defense equipment to enhance plant, error detection capabilities and first procedures and programs fo inventory control come the standardization committee at the calibration of equipment. all these things are essential to securing the program if it's deployed in other cities. there's great lessons from over doing new york that can be transported and apply to other cities for the congress may want to set up this program. it is essential to work in the city continue to the program can be successful if there's an attempt to use it from a transplant to cities. in closing, and securing cities program has been extraordinary example of interagency and intergovernmental collaboration that would not exist and could not exist without federal

funding. we thank you for your support and look forward to your support going ahead. thank you veryuch. >> thank you, commer daddario. now i recognize dr. gowadia. >> among a chairman can commemorative member higgins and members subcommittee. before i go into iraq survey to echo the secretary sentiments regarding the recent bombing. the entire team joins me in expressing concern to the victims of the accident. our thoughts and prayers are with you. getting back to the aura remarks, thank you for the opportunity to be here today with deputy commissioner daddario, mcallister to discuss the progress and coordinating the united states government strategy to detect illicit radiological and nuclear material. with your support and work in

other federal state and local partners, we've made significant progress in countering nuclear terrorism. it is a pleasure to be here today with deputy commissioner and deputy undersecretary. their support and assistance are fundamental to the mission you've given my office. indeed to maximize maximize the ability, it's imperative we apply that technology is driven by indicators and place them in the hands of well-trained law enforcement and public safety personnel. to this end to a steady increase collaboration and continue to work with stakeholders to but the nuclear detection architecture. the stellar example of collaborative effort is securing the cities program. in its first implementation, dear departed with new york and new jersey and connecticut. over the past six years, weapons 13,000 have been trained another

8500 pieces of nuclear detection equipment have been procured and deployed in the region. in addition to frequent exercises can to secure the partners conduct of the operations to enhance postures based on information cues received at the fusion center. i'm pleased to report based on my success in the new york city region, last year we were to expand the program to the palm beach area. in addition to efforts on the cities we have established relationships with over 35 states and territories. to guide their efforts, the mbo created a handbook with module is a specific detection environment. once capabilities are established, we support operations by facilitating detection invested in the field. we also partner stakeholders to conduct exercises come in really supporting up to 12.

today but exercise opratn with 20 states across the country. in partnership with stakeholders we have implemented training standards. since 2005 over 24,000 nonperson of public safety personnel have participated in the training. as i mentioned earlier, timely and accurate information sharing is critical to success of our mission. we work with stakeholders, to publish information bulletin summarizing relevant articles, salon services and other useful facts about radioactive materials. but consider the need to search detection i fancy special event at times of increased debt and so we maintain trailer-based units have an extensive suite of nuclear detection equipment in

communication capability deployed across the country to augment the detection capabilities of operational partners. this is asinine, we with deployed these units within 60 events and exercises. finally, the writing partners operational agencies to evaluate the nuclear detection system and associated tactics and procedures. this allows officials to gain critical next is uncommon thursdays, providing valuable feed that can need it to improve performance. in the last year, the mbo connected dirty red team assessments both overt and covert. we've covered country and come a long way. we've maintained our legislatively mandated to get a focus and have developed enduring partnerships of the intelligence community and law enforcement to strengthen the capabilities to detect the nuclear threat.

indeed it's our goal to make nuclear terrorism a difficult undertaking or adversary. thank you for the opportunity to discuss the efforts to protect our nation. i look forward to your questions. >> thank you, dr. gowadia. i now recognize mr. mcallister. >> amartya chairman king, ranking member higginson to distinguish members of the committee. our condolences are also echoed as the secretary and dr. gowadia has expressed from the tragic event occurred boss. thank you for the opportunity to discuss the role of dhs, office of intelligence and analysis addressing the radiological and nuclear threat of the united states. ima accrues the 2012 assessment from the national intelligence that a mass attack involving chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear weapons

the united states is unlikely. however, that dni highlighted the intelligence community remains concerned about limited attacks that could occur with little or no warning because terrorist organizations and other nonstate actors remain interested in conducting this type of attack. headline of the threat environment and highlighted at the recent tragic events in boston, the relationships in processes we've built to share information with our state and local partners are more important than ever. as a former governor, secretary napolitano understands the rules state and local governments plan to protect communities. the shoes oftentimes said, lan security begins at home time security. it is essential state and local partners have tools and capabilities not only to support national security effort, but at the same time be leveraged to enhance local priorities.

strengthening these capabilities are critical to counter today's evolving threat particularly an individual's response will for the threat increasingly operate within the united states and do not traveler communicate with those overseas. in support of this coming dhs has pursued a paid approach work in the same local partners. this approach include string of front-line officers to recognize and report behaviors that may indicate criminal activity associated with terrorism for the nationwide suspicious activity reporting initiative. it involves engaging through public awareness campaign such as the pc something, say something. emphasizing the importance of suspicious activity to the proper law-enforcement authorities and support to the national network of state and locally owned and operated fusion centers, furthering their role is the showing conduit

among multiple disciplines and multiple levels of government. as directed in the recommendations of the 9/11 commission act of 2007, the state and local program be the ordination of the federal support of the national network of fusion centers. protecting the nation is a shared responsibility in the federal government benefits from a robust information sharing efforts actually thursdays in local part is. ina has made progress in assisting vendors to build on information sharing capabilities by deployment of intelligence personnel, connection of classified homeland secure data networks, sponsoring secret level clearance is to race in local partners in providing training and technical assistance for state and local fusion center analysts and developing tailored products to meet the needs of state and local stakeholders. for example, i am a partners with the mbo to provide analysts

with radiological and nuclear reports and opens its information coming detection tips and nuclear blast or so on source reporting. in the event of a credible threat to the homeland, ina leverages appropriate subject matter expert such as those in the mbo joint analysis center to develop products and information for distribution through our established information sharing architecture. ina utilizes existing threat edification process used to include rollcall releases, tear lines coverage or intelligent bulletins we produced in partnership with the federal bureau of investigation at the national counterterrorism advisory system comes secure video teleconference is another means of communication. additionally, ina has remain

proactive on the threat posed by radiological and nuclear attack as well as as well as providing information of potential attack indicators and recommended reporting requirements. products developed and distributed through information systems help ensure the same local partners have access to necessary information they need to protect their communities. thank you for the opportunity to discuss the efforts and sharing information and intelligence the same local part is in getting the right information to the right people at timely manner. i'm happy to answer any questions the subcommittee may have. >> i recognize dr. cole. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you. much. the distinguish members of the sub committee, representative

keating, representative green, good to see you again. i think as well chairman mcauliffe frankenheimer thompson for their leadership on homeland security. the bombings at the boston marathon 10 days ago in the subsequent letters containing ricin sent to president of wonderworker underscore the vital importance of addressing the threat in general and the cbr and threat in particular. i was privileged review with the subcommittee paper titled wmd terrorism, which i co-edited on behalf of the aspen institute homeland security wmd working group. wmd of course stands for weapons of mass instruction, which is a turn generally equivalent to cbrn. the aspen working for a project under clark ervin provided an update on recommendations made in 2008 by the bipartisan

commission on weapons of mass instruction proliferation and terrorism. among the proposed auctions was a call for reauthorization of the pandemic and all hazards preparedness that. i'm pleased to note last month after passage by both houses of congress, president obama signs the into law. the act right signing for numerous protect measures including reinforcing the nation strategic national stockpile which contains medicine and equipment appropriate to cbrn threads. the stated goal is to deliver items from the stock island united states within 12 hours. weeks ago, defense against smallpox restraints and with the introduction into the stockpile of a novel antiviral drug called iris trier. another of our aspen paper proposal was to advance public private collaboration with medical response capabilities.

last month a consortium of public private and academic institutions announced establishment of an influenza vaccine at texas a&m university. introduced by the u.s. department of health and human services in mid-2012. the centers were established to develop and hastened availability of adequate countermeasures such as antibiotics and antidotes for biological chemical and radiological threat agents. welcome has these actions have been, others remain inadequately addressed. congressman pascarella voice is giving its about the absence of a special assistant for bio defense who would report directly to the president. this labs continues as to whether we face in her bio defense structure, including the lack of uniform security requirements for laboratories

that work on select threat agents. cbrn threads have been heightened by recent international events. allegations that chemical weapons were used in syria either by government or opposition forces remain unresolved. in any case in the midst of the civil war, searing chemical agents could fawn to the hands of terrorists. nuclear proliferation remains worrisome, especially because marine sailor to curb his parents efforts to acquire nuclear arms. nuclear concerns escalated last month for north korea threatened to target the u.s. with nuclear weapons. every effort should be made to reduce these threats, but they also signaled the need for improved readiness in the event of a nuclear debt nation on america's oil.

the valuable initiative by the center for bio security called rat reselling it to be. i'm holding this up icatpublile distributed to local and regional people in charge of having to respond in case they were the horribly unfortunate event of having a nuclear debt nation of any consequence on american soil. other protective measures against high-level radiation exposure should also be explored. the new field of terror medicine might include blood banks of umbilical cord blood. rich in stem cells, this blood could help seed production of peoples but cells whose natural production had been damaged by radiation exposure. for obvious reasons coupled with the fact al qaeda and groups have sought to acquire weapons of mass structure and, i am very

grateful the subcommittee is focused on enhancing preparedness and capabilities of the cbrn attack. thank you. >> thank you, dr. cole. i recognize myself for questions. .or gowadia, you mention special events but there may be surge with the boston marathon or the maritime >> category? >> yes, mr. king. we have these trailer unit we can apply on request. with technical support that goes out. there are communication element, all kinds of mobile detection gear. can be integrated into the existing operation. >> does that depend on the local

municipality requesting a quick >> yes, it does. we're open to hearing from th. it is creative for their use. >> you want to say whether his present at the boston marathon or you'd rather not quick >> would prefer not. >> ms. gowadia committee to take that to the hometown security, homeland security, hometown security more so than other looks as if most of the attacks are going to be launched within the country rather than large attack from overseas. i'm a sad information is shared and people of clarence is, since so much information would be classified, what stage do you share with vocal part is? if you heard this potential nuclear threat and asked city, what would be the procedures to follow as far as when you would notify officials in that city,

about double what would they be a quick but at the police level, the mayor? at what stage do you make decision? >> thank you frasca not, rsll, what we strive for is getting security clearances out to our key stakeholders of existing local environment. we have over 4000 above clearances distributed to our partners in the state and local arena. if there was an emerging threat come with her to take classified information and related to the lowest classification level to get it out to the widest distribution possible. we have installed through a national network of fusion centers the capability to communicate in a secret classified level as well as governors, major city mayors, fusion center directors and other key stakeholders have that level of clearance. were able to communicate with

them in a classified environment as well as work with the fbi to develop a joint intelligence bulletin that could go out at a classified level depending on the nature of the threat. roadworks at and to distribute to the existing information architecture to make sure state and local key stakeholders have informed decision to make educated decisions on how to mitigate the threat in their community. >> who would make that decision in the department has to than the tipping point comes where the local officials should be notified? >> that is ingrained in the way we operate on a daily basis. >> said there would a question of the obligation that iran? do feel the information sharing process is adequate now? >> i look at my philosophy as

well as my colleagues that we have an obligation to provide rather than need to know environment. we strive to get information that could impact the community and the right folks in the field. >> dr. gowadia, to change topics a little bit but definitely involves nuclear detection, i know the nba zero -- ndo has cargo screening with the passive detection system. what is the status of those projects? >> i believe you're referring to nuclear radiological platforming the demonstration kicked off last year and i believe will be seen characterization results in the next fiscal year. >> thank you. commissioner daddario, there is no definite way of answering the

question, but what would've been the impact in boston if that had been a dirty bomb is supposed to a conventional explosive and also hear the expertise in new york, how would the city of responded to that? >> just starting with new york, whenever we have a suspicious package, we have a bomb team that goes. they have radiation detection equipment with them. when they approach a bomb, the assumption is that it could be a dirty bomb, so that's one of the first things we do. let's say a dirty bomb were to go off depending how much material there was, they would be a large area that would be contaminated for a substantial period of time. depending what was in this case, that would shut down the economic activity in that area,

chase resident out of the area for substantial periods of time until there could be a cleanup. there would be mass panic. people would be roulette to go anywhere near the area, which should mean the ripple effect extend far beyond the actual contamination zone. so i think the effect would've been to to a substantial extent, shutting down of economic life in the city of boston. that is the concern we have in the city of new york. if a dirty bomb were to go off in the middle of the city, what would that mean for the future of the city? could the city continue to operate? that's why these investment are so important and obviously when i talk to you about it, my concern is the city of new york.

i understand communities around the country, other cities seen what about us? the reason for that is they understand it's not like this were to happen in, it could mean the death now really for a major urban area. >> i'm giving up too much information in a public setting, but all of us are extremely impressed by the medical response in boston. victims brought to hospitals. no indictments they were taken to hospital. if it was a dirty bomb with nuclear materials, our hospitals equipped to bring contaminated victims sent him a debt due to patients in the hospital? i don't want you to give up too much. >> it would create enormous challenges for the hospitals and

public health systems, how to treat the vic guns as it is enough medications available that would be perfect administaff piles. it's certainly something we don't want to see, mr. chairman. >> thank you, commissioner. i now recognize the ranking member. >> thank you, mr. chairman. on this issue of the terror plot in canada, seemingly in iran is both disturbing and intriguing from the standpoint air and is a majority shia population and al qaeda is sunni-based. they also have an intolerance of

those non-sunni islamists. so i'm just curious as to the thoughts of rpn all about what seemingly is new information and what that does or doesn't do relative to a further threat to the united states in north america. >> the subjects subject you're raising it's an awful lot of it her mission and not at liberty to talk about. i think the public record is pretty clear that al qaeda, senior al qaeda people have been in a rant for some period of time. it's been convenient for a rant to them they are inconvenient for al qaeda to be there. iran is if nothing else, a point

through which people travel and go from the afghanistan and pakistan area into the middle east. so yes there is tension for the reasons you said, but there are also some common -- they have some common objectives. the united states being a common enemy in their eyes. so i think what you're seeing with syria, maybe there's some more attention that's fair. that may be some indication of those tensions, but it's not new news that al qaeda has had a presence in iran. how hospitable the hosting has been, how consistently hospitable it's been a something

which is worth thinking about, at the presence of al qaeda and iran continues to this day. i think that's about all i can really say. >> i will focus my comments predominately on the nuclear element. precisely because we worried about the proliferation says chairman king mentioned in his opening statement and worked hard to build a layered architecture that takes into account all kinds of terrorist threats. so it is our fundamental responsibility to build robust nuclear detentions to send and also the ndo is responsible for forensic capabilities of the nation and we do with a wide variety of god.

it's agnostic to the country with a terrorist organization as can turn. >> from my perch, two things come to mind. one is right now the investigation of the federal bureau of investigation, director mueller was on the hill the other day and asked about that in an open setting couldn't comment on that. we are working with the fbi and the joint intelligence bulletin pertaining to the canadian incident that will be distributed today. it's a classified bubble that i'm sure we'll make that available to the committee. thank you. >> well, i would just speak to the general necessity of the more that we be concerned that iran not a permitted to even get close to a final development of the nuclear weapon with all the obvious implication that would have including possibly been

making such a weapon mark says the bowl or knowledge about accessible to al qaeda and other groups in collaboration with iran. >> i yelled back, mr. chairman. >> the ranking member goes back to the gym and from massachusetts and i join in expressing thoughts, prayers to you. the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you for your remarks, all of you on our panel. in boston, it is a situation where the operation of the attack were conducted by two people there were domestic, of the southern tier. what a citizen, when a noncitizen that lived in the commonwealth for a period of time, but in the united states for a period of time. some of the planning a theist

was done by these two individuals in the procurement of some of the materials and the explosives was also at least on in some measure by those who individuals. my question is this, in that instance is easily accessible materials and with enough knowledge to put an explosive together. what type of biological, chemical, radiological materials are accessible by average folks to put together this kind of attack that would have been the testimony on today? i know dr. cole mentioned concern about certain laboratories and certainly that's an area. could you comment on that since those kind of attacks are going

to become more prevalent. they are harder to detect and i just want to see in the instances of biological radiological chemical and nuclear attacks, what can they get their hands on and what can people be reasonably expected to put together an attack using these materials? dr. cole. >> i think it's important to differentiate between the nature and character of each of these weapons at the trainee. in the case of biological, it is a unique weapon system is natural passage -- not surely occurring pathogens are used for hostile purposes. security is important in their sunday standardization for laboratory work. there are various countermeasures we have in place, including detection systems commode sometimes are

not as effective and accurate as we wish, but nevertheless we moved in this direction in terms of biological materials if there's an environment and they ought not to be better. if appropriately engage in advance, their dissent is against from antibiotics and vaccines and other kinds of countermeasures. radiological is entirely different. chairman king mentioned the possibility of bringing somebody to a house at all has been exposed to radiation that would not be dangerous to others nearby. however, depending on the intensity and the level of radiation a person is exposed to, this could be critical to that person's life. >> all be very clear. can they get their hands on these things and use them in an attack? how accessible is that for people like these domestic or homegrown terrorists?

>> in the case of biological, my particular expertise, it is not at all difficult to get hope for another thriller understanding, including natural occurring locations. anthrax late bacteria occur in nature. if you get a highly dangerous strain with a little knowledge about laboratory techniques, it would not be difficult to create a biological spread that can be harmful to a lot of people. that would be much less so for other kinds of each and. i'll let others speak to radiological, but you talk not about a nuclear blast, but scaring people with the release of some levels of radiation. radiation capabilities or machine and medical offices, offices, hot among other commercial uses make that

concern will. >> dr. gowadia come you want to comment. >> yeah, we are secure, so the nuclear element can rest assured on. dr. cole is right there are radiological sources in hospitals, et cetera. new york is a great example where we collaborated with the nrc department of energy to harden the sources. we are working to secure them and it gets harder and harder on materials. >> super europe is clearly on that same group of terrorists. >> as we are, but we continue to work as hard as possible to make radiological materials hard to acquire and use as the first line of defense.

>> thank you, mr. chairman. if anyone else could comment on my. i don't that, mr. chairman. >> thank you. former member of the committee and permanent visitor, mr. green. >> thank you, mr. chairman. your gracious to me this opportunity and i thank you and the ranking member. since the new chairman is here forever. >> i do express sympathies with my condolences as well to the members of the panel, thank you for your thoughtful testimony. i must tell you that i was somewhat impressed to be quite candid with you with the way the

author was coordinated around would have been at the marathon. i am still impressed at how quickly things came together in how we were able to capture or kill and i don't like the terminology in this he asked about were capable of doing. within a short period of time, persons who committed a dastardly deed. but they too ridiculous to be concatenate the record and testimony about how successful the court made it offered was. i'm willing to start -- either person can start quite candidly. >> i think you're right. the initial response was very quick. a lot of resources were brought to boston to assist in the investigation not just the

federal government, the local police agencies. they were, for example from our department, detectives from the joint terrorism task force in boston. there also other officers from other parts of the police department there. i don't think new york was allowed in that regard. there was a tank after a little bit whenever something like this happens, it takes a little bit of time to get everything organized. i think a good sharing of information, debriefing were conduct to dwell so people were informed what was going on. i think that was important. it is always confusion when these types of things happen in this case is no different than others. all in on, it was the next one

after and it still ongoing. this investigation is not completed. there's still a lot of work to be done. they need to organize with all the actors and parties that have an interest and work together continues to be very important. >> what i know now selected? yes, mr. mcallister. >> thank you, mr. chairman. to address saturday to go back 10 years that is the decade leading up to this tragic event. since 2002, the department of homeland security thursday preparedness grants, boston has received $373 million to prepare for such a tragic event. in particular training equipment and resources to detect, improvised explosive device prevention response and recovery

training and equipment. last year funding was used in order to the ied threat our fema has supported 12 exercises and training opportunities over the past several years. it is which of the past three years in areas such as biological attack, hazardous materials and other types of mass attacks. there's been over 5501st responders in the boston area that have been trained on mass casualty response. i'd like to talk about the fusion centers. the boston regional intelligence center was there for the preparation of this special event as well as dealing with the event in the post-incident investigation. they handled everything from

video exploitation to look for culprits responsible for that. geospatial imagery to assist the first-line commanders in what was going on on the ground. they handled all kinds of requests for information, suspicious activity reporting, same as the casey decision makers not only in the impacted area, but also to state emergency response center. they were quickly see fusion center as well in providing accurate and timely information on what was evolving to the fusion centers as well as federal part is. it is a model of a well performed tragic event in how to share intelligence information. >> thank you, mr. chairman. if you would like to respond,

put something in the record. i'll be honored to read it. thank you. in thank you, mr. cole. >> i just have one follow-up question to commissioner trent reid. you may have touched on this, but taken new york, what other tripwires as far as you being alerted of someone purchasing suspicious materials? whether radioactive or otherwise. >> new york has a outreach to businesses that sell materials that could be years for an attack, chemicals, gunpowder, certain types of components for bombs. we do not reach so somebody goes and buys materials, we hope it will trigger a call in to the one person agent d. there's nothing that requires

under the law these calls, but we have to do this type of outrage. a year or so ago we started doing some outrage to companies that sell pyrotechnic materials online that apparently made them up as used in this case. you can go online and buy excuses as he saw in a closed container along with bbs and meadow, you cause enormous harm from what is derogatorily called a crude on. these are a very effective small bomb and people shouldn't use the term is a crude device or something of that nature.

the fact is you can now go out and acquire unregulated materials to make bombs that are very, very effective and that's obviously a concern to us, so you have to do this type of outrage to the companies, the businesses that sell this so if they see something suspicious, someone buying more than they need are coming back over and over again that there is a calling out too long for law enforcement. those who try to do. >> but also place the seemingly innocuous items that beauty products. >> those are chemicals and those can be mixed together to make bombs or poisonous gases. >> thank you. i have no further questions. any members of the panel have

any? gentleman from massachusetts. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i was going to touch base with mr. daddario appeared in new york is one of surveillance cameras have the most highest concentration in our country. one of the issues that's taken hold in being considered going forward is to what extent in a city like boston or read quite a few mouse integral to investigators success going forward, would you advise your experience in new york city on the need another cities for increased advanced equipment? >> we have a program within the counterterrorism bureau to deploy cameras. we do it differently than other cities. other cities may put out more cameras, but our program is based on the following design.

we use cameras at the police department installs. other public authorities and private businesses install. they bring us into our network. we bring out the data into a central core that allows us to restore it and review it and they make into analytic son some of that information. so that to us is a very effective way of handling video information. cameras themselves, the police department of the strongly. they have a deterrent effect, provide for a security not for counterterrorism, the general on first met and as an investigative tool they are invaluable for he saw that in boston. if you didn't have those

cameras, right now we been a much different situation than we are now. i think any city as part of its security plan to really give a close hardluck and how it can best deploy cameras. what type, where. that's an essential part of any security policy and program. >> the digital cameras i saw a the lincoln laboratories is extraordinary. they can see the entire terminal all at once. experts can look at any activity not done and they can see a blade of grass with high definition three football fields

away. technological developments are another aspect of surveillance as cell. >> congressman, if you ever want atthe arenaystem, let us know. we'd be happy to share with you. >> i would just follow up on what the commissioner said. if boston is considering a comments impressive to look at. some guy had on a green sweater and 11 street. you can pick out almost anything on it. it's amazing how it's done, very sophisticated in so many part hours from the police department and private sector at this location. gentleman from texas. >> thank you. i promise to be terse and the comment. i like to follow up to representative chatham islands testimony. see something, say some thing in

terms of cameras in the hands of citizens in the social networking that took place at this technology, the iact of that, please. >> are you referring to how people can take pictures on their cell phones now and send it didn't? this is a very interesting development in police department come along for some officers are trained to get a hand on how to deal with that. it's a lot of information not sent to police department. the problem is you don't have a way to communicate with the person who sent it right away, so you're not sure what it is. and makes it harder to figure out how to respond. but it's absolutely something which all law enforcement agents is have to think about is how can it encourage this

information on how to handle it affect only one that comes in the door. we haven't exactly fully come to terms with that. it is something the new york city police department and other police departments have to get the real thought to. >> mr. chairman, just as a follow-up, would she be interested in methodology you can move forward to develop these ideas? >> we are taking about it, but were always interested in getting help. >> the gentleman knows that. i want to thank all the witnesses for their testimony. dr. cole. >> if i may, protection of the citizenry stands on two major pillars. one has largely been discussed how you prevent and detect in advance for not having an event.

the other important pillar is in the occasion the attack happens, what about the response? every to make one very important point. through media reports and general discussion is a full appreciation an acknowledgment that the medical response and rescue response was superb at the boston marathon. it's extremely important to recognize how atypical the situation was relative to other possibilities in the united dates. for example, at the new york marathon vermont in 1000 medical volunteers stationed, heavily concentrated at the finish line. i don't have the number, but there were many, many literally within seconds of the time of the blast. many more lives lost simply through the lost of legs nearby

train people, physicians, nurses. the bleeding was stanched. as some of the reasons there was an unusually successful manner in terms of saving lives. beyond that, some of the most outstanding medical institutions in the world for that really 11.5 miles away. harvard's areas of medical school boston university is not what we can expect, god forbid, if there were another occasion where there is the blessing of people we have medical folks at hand within moments in a couple of minutes of getting to hospitals. we'd better preparedness than half capabilities throughout the country at many locations beyond a marathon to draw such a focus and intent, including not just medical, the security people.

huge security, police and other officials could not be populated locations throughout the country in equal numbers. >> thank you, dr. cole. thank you for all the witnesses and questions for all of us are on the same page. in dealing with the issue there's a big unanimity to steps that should be taken. i want to thank the department for their work. bank commissioner daddario, dr. cole for his insights. members may have additional questions for usd to respond to those in writing if they come in. but that objection, the committee stands adjourned.

[inaudible conversations]

>> acting commissioner margaret hamburg testify thursday about the 2014 budget request for her agency. it's the mac frank roosevelt once described the dedication of the lab areas are not the state. i dedicate this slavery with an unshakable faith in the future of our country.

it's the honor of a lifetime to the day country is brave and noble as the united states. whatever challenges come before us, i will always believe our nation's best lay ahead. god bless. [applause] >> the senate energy and natural resources committee held a hearing to examine how drought affects water supplies in the energy sector. inter department and national oceanic and atmospheric officials. this was 90 minutes. [inaudible conversations]

>> the committee will come to order. senator murkowski is trying to juggle. this is a particularly hectic day with session on the floor and lots of committees. go have her opening statement when she gets here. my friend from nevada will introduce the witness who is especially important to him after the opening statement and will proceed at this time. this morning we are going to look at drought and the impacts to the energy and water sectors. water is life and without access to the world ceases to exist or at least to run effectively. last year was the warmest on record combined with the exceptionally dry conditions severe drought affected over 60% of our country.

again, over 60% of the country. the cost of damages associated with blasters start exceeded $35 billion. that is a substantial hit for economy to take at a time when we've huge economic challenges ahead. in addition to last year struck on the country is seeing increasing numbers of weather events and unfortunately it seems the drought is almost part of the norm. one reason the committee is focusing today is to better understand how the drought conditions for into the overall picture of climate change and if there's lessons to be done to minimize the impact of the current climate and for the future. drought impacts everything from farmers to powerplant operations and everything in-between. water is a critical resource is so often it seems to ball must be treated as an afterthought. in my home state of horror can

come oregon, oregonians are seeing severe drought. the pair of reclamation has told me the basin has experience the second driest january through march on record. this is a dire situation. thiscord. this is a dire situation. this is one of our thorniest watersheds that has caused doubt declarations last week and in effect, this has become a symbol of the debate about how to deal with drought. you saw that in the important "wall street journal" article that ran on drought spotlighting what was going on. the bureau of reclamation is a key player to solve the long-term research disputes and other such places across the west. we've always hurt the bureau in a bipartisan way and will continue to work in that fashion to meet our goals.

water is also critical resource for generating electricity. if they never generate hydropower, but also for calling many other types of thermal electric generation like nuclear biomass or coal. water must not only be sufficiently available in quantities, but also cool enough to love plans to run safely and effectively. that means climate change poses a double threat. some facilities potentially threatening water availability and sufficiently cool intake water. recent history to drought and high temperature. in 2001, severe drought in the pacific northwest resulted in significantly reduced generation causing electricity supplies and prices to the west. the drought was estimated to have an economic impact between 2.5 and $6 billion.

in 2007 the tennessee valley authority had to temporarily shut down the nuclear plant because the intake water temperatures were too high. in 2012 the millstone nuclear plant that powers half of connecticut had to take 40% of its capacity from long island. who would have an exemption to use intake water of the 102 degrees shutting down during the heat wave. the situation in texas but the concerns and solutions. they made it through with only one power plant curtailing. they did it because of extraordinary conservation offers and they were also help by having wind energy of the system that doesn't require any

water at all. prices had incredible $3000 per megawatt hour and felt the impact of their power bills. the following summer was hot and dry texas it costs less disruption thanks to the steps i've mentioned that their utilities have chosen to adopt. the import goes to understand risks and the risks. we are glad you have navigated the logistics or you can be with us. you will introduce a written important to him. also after senator heller has done that, senator frank in a mansion and asked to give statements and given the importance i think we should leave our rules.

the next senator murkowski and nine senator heller for the introduction, senator franken and senator mansion. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i appreciate the opportunity for us to focus on water. we talk a lot about energy and all the great things to do this to future. at the end of the day, we have to remember everything begins with water. how we address our water issues is key. if we fail to appreciate the nexus between energy and water, that's really to our detriment. in the energy 2020 proposal, we've got one chapter on the energy water and access.

this is critical for us to review and i appreciate the opportunity to do so. i think we acknowledge energy and water resources at the foundation of our nations economy, essential to the future and international security. all forms of production, distribution, fuel extraction after refinement affect water resources in some way. every aspect of extraction, to me, commence it is about her as well as wastewater is dependent on suspicion of reliable energies. it goes both ways. moreover, energy is significantly regional, which is important is to understand the local level. to improve the relationship between energy use and water use, we do love our information both regarding water and energy. specifically i outline some of this and energy 2020 to identify

existing federal research authorities and activities currently authorized to address the interdependency and actively doing so. dle and doi has the authority to facilitate agency efforts to develop energy and water independent r&d. further to ensure d.o.e. and doi develop tools to avoid multiuse water conflicts and ensure water and energy interdependencies are coordinated and to authorize a court may then federal agents in the development and implementation of our technology. technology should address energy and water systems a multipurpose water and energy system planning. appreciate the focus this committee is giving. i think the witnesses appear before us today. i hope we can perceive in the

near future to address the issues associated with water management and a cheapo production cannot look forward to hearing from the panel this morning. >> thank you, senar murkowski. haven't looked at your reported number of times, particularly r&d recommendations in this area hold a lot of promise for bipartisan cooperation. senator heller is going to do an introduction to my colleagues make statements. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you for allowing a topic. i grew the ranking member to be critically important. it's my pleasure to welcome and introduce to you the way. i want to know, mr. chairman, i didn't say pat milroy from nevada. -- mulroy. we are very possessives. we are grateful for the work

she's done. senator reagan myself share friendship semi-appreciate the relationships they've had over the last couple decades. pat is general manager for southern nevada water authority in the las vegas valley water district. then you sure you share seller reputation that precedes her. over two decades, pettis had incredible challenging job in southern nevada. it's been ushered in the turn of the last century and shepherded the water authority during these challenging economic times. the gravity of her job has been compounded by scarcity of water in southern nevada. if that looks than in her testimony, and over appropriating drought stricken colorado river is a primary source for southern nevada. innovative water efficiencies and conservation measures have agreements with neighboring states to maximize availability

and flexibility is of the colorado river and negotiate treaties of mexico. all the while the las vegas valley. pat is a leader in her field, well respected by peers. she's the first woman president, serves on the board of directors of the national water resources foundation. i know she will share some of the work she's been involved in in her perspective and i want to thank her for being here today. look forward to her testimony in all here today. thank you for taking time to miss in the audience listening to testimony. >> thank you, mr. heller. senator franken. >> chairman biden, ranking member murkowski, thank you for holiness hearing. the extremely important topic affects so many in our economy and i want to commend you for

the attention it deserves. as a talk about trout, is what we talk about climate change, which we know will result in our nation is facing more extreme weather conditions. last year was a remarkable year. 2012 was the hottest year on record in the continental united states can and beating the record by a folder create, which is actually alarming and amazing. the impacts of the 2012 drought were felt throughout the country. in fact, more than 70% of counties in our country are considered disaster areas. were going here today about the effects of drought and water shortages on the energy sat there. last year we saw serious effects on the acceptor. secretary vilsack estimate the impact between 50 to

$60 billion. shipping on the mississippi river was also seriously impacted. what a little strapped to the point is seriously interfered with her ability to transport agricultural goods to market. waterspouts although the shippers had to send barges down half-full with soybean, for example, which makes being close competitive with brazilian beans. in minnesota, we ask for it a third of our soybean crop and so this is a serious issue for us. then there's the issue of wildfires. if her testimony with chief tidwell testified before the committee last year i asked him about the link between forest fires on climate change. he told us to stay longer fires even by more than 30 days. wildfires are larger and more

intense. chief tidwell told the scientist that climate change is increasing the size intent to be of wildfires and extending their season. these are very serious issues that again like to thank the chairman and ranking member for holding this hearing. i really believe the need to come together, democrats and republicans to vote a serious conversation about climate change and the fax the trout are clearly in this hearing goes a long way to become a conversation. thank you. >> thank you, senator franken. nobody in this committee on the climate change then you how we are happy to champion. >> thank you, mr. chairman. madam vice chairman.

i do think that climate change is a world phenomenon, not just the united states. they're totally responsible. if they wrote contributor if you will. i like to start acknowledging how much we've been to have a relative abundance of drinking water. it's one of those things all of us can take for granted until it's taken away from us. we have an abundance of good water. when we were without water for weeks due to the storm and you would not think about that, when i thought about that, but could not have a higher plants up running. it had a tremendous effect and is sure to bring issues like the availability of water to the

forefront and has been missing him like never before. there were two types of water usage often discussed. we have water withdrawal and water consumption. it's important to understand the difference because power plant in west virginia has an awful lot of power plant. energy users withdraw a lot of water, but they don't consume that much. what they mean by that, people think if we shut the power plant family would use all this water. we don't consume that much water. we withdraw it, but the consume 3% of what we draw. her biggest consumers irrigation for agriculture. agriculture is 1% of the water every day. that's 27 times the water consumption mismatches in a

power plant, 27 times. i wanted to point that out to keep them in days. we have to look at the opportunities show and found a table in their options. we need to figure out how to do that another trick power as a kid right now using mind water, which we think is a very good use of a resource without withdraw. when they save water, we save energy. to all the things in another energy water and access we have to look into. there's many things that go into all this and i just hope her pride have to look at everything. thank you. >> thank you, senator minchin. we are going to do exactly what she said. her son committee touches

everything you have for us and of course dramatically affected by joss. sanner merkley and i know this so well because of the devastating effects of the dress beside eastern oregon and of course you have industry with jurisdiction over mining. senator sanders. >> thank you, mr. chairman. want to apologize to her pin on us. i want to concur with what senator franken said. trout is one of the manifestations we are seeing in terms of climate change. we see flooding, extreme weather disturbance is, he faced taking people's lives all over the world. i have to say when history looks back at this particular moment, our kids and grandchildren are going to ask us where were we? webber would not moving aggressively but the problems that exist today and will only

get worse in the future. this is one of those issues that have not gotten attention it deserves and i look forward to working with you. >> we are going to change that. were going to cover witnesses now. we also have the good fortune of having senator merkley who is the number of public works to great expertise and experience in this area also to be part of this. we look forward to all the views expressed this morning. let's begin with michael l. conner. >> thank you, mr. cha% >> thank you, mr. chairman. i'm pleased to provide testimony regarding the effects of drought and energy and water management and on a personal level it's a pleasure as both privilege to appear before this committee and work with former colleagues on the committee staff.

it's an honor to be here with my esteemed colleagues and experts in the field water resources. the southwest and great plains remain a state of extreme drought. infrastructure anticipates reality is by reclamation and where projects are built. recognizing it can be eliminated or more, and which is existing products that helps guard against the devastating effects of drought. they state that most of his activities and results we achieve in. reclamation disconsolate work with contractors to adjust plans to mitigate impacts of water shortages. in california's central valley january through march was the driest on record in april is preventing the release. who supplement contract allocations insert here the

project. actions include rescheduling storage, acquiring supplies, diversifying supplies to wildlife refugee centers acting in an attack between cbp provided tens of thousands of additional water supply to the project. the second is the colorado river. accordingly a number of operational agreements have been executed during this time to incentivize conservation and increased water stored to avoid or delay shortages and the lawyer colorado basin. the historic arrangement between the united states and mexico signed last november. another example is the river basin oregon. serious trepanation splayed 2013. one species needs by water, whereas the other species needs sufficient river flows based on

releases from the same way. the situation with the upper cultural community in the basement. proclamation has worked with the weather service in the national guard fisheries service to develop an operational plan this year to maintain protection following irrigation operation to proceed during this year. the second area is water smart. the water smart program has reclamation efforts to achieve a sustainable water supply. projects of the conservation activities of an estimated 616 dozen acre-feet per year, enough water for 2.4 million people in 790,000 by the end of 2014. $230 million is also provided the water reuse project since 2009. it projects are finished in third time. project sponsors over 293,000 feet of recycled water in 2012 providing drug-resistant

supply. water smart technologists and nexus between energy water. water smart sensor 49-kilowatt hours of electricity annually. third, storage opportunities. it's reasonable to ask of the short and long-term. constructs a maintained story sure that supply projects and authorized by congress. as mentioned in a written statement come under the water smart program they are underway on major river basins in the west.

fifth and finally authority for drought relief. as stated in the testimony before to prepare for and respond to drought. as a committee is aware, the authority for tight i and iii expire at the end of the year. it seeks an extension through

2017. in conclusion, i would note that the problem of drought is addressed proactively through collaborate planning, targeting investment promoting more efficient water management. mr. chairman, i'm ready for questions at the appropriate time. >> very good. thank you. let have the next witness. dr. roger. >> good morning chairman, members of the committee. i'm director of the national integrated drought information system at noah. thank you for inviting me to speak with you today about drought and the impact. it's part of the experience to the present 2012 and one of the driest years on record. with the most extensive conditions since 1934. across a broad spectrum to recreation and forest fire. costing $35 billion alone. not counting impact to

recreation. today drought coadditions persist for most of the west. it demonstrated how they can affect the energy sector through the dependence on water resources and lesson to the future. specific example of impact drawn from the partner as cro the country follow. in 2007, during the southeast drought atlanta to raleigh faced blackout. this severe drought lasting through 2009 threatening the cooling water supply. the drought in texas and across the south reduced power plant cooling with the record low level. the manager of the pipeline in

south texas placed several request for short and medium range seasonal change. in california 2001 to twch, the ratio of hydropower fluctuated between 12 and -- the colorado basin was mentioned undergoing the second driest tbel of year period on word. the power administration formed they have been -- hydropower losses and make up alternative power. these events also highlight the potential benefit of climate and weather information for managing risk of the water interface. noah and the partners are -- sport water and energy sectors. to reliability of the water supply. as a look ahead we know the physical driver of drought in

the u.s. are linked sea surface temperature in the tropical and land conditions. porptd feature of the 2012 drought included the rapid expansion of dry conditions from 28% in the u.s. in may to over 60 by july. what we now term a flash drought. 2012 was also the warmest year on record. high temperatures have been shown to exacerbate drought conditions in the past. and in some regions droughts expected to be more severe or prolonged. during the past two months conditions have improve aid cross some of the intense drought areas in the north central plains, upper mississippi valley and southeast. drought persistence and new development as well as above normal temperatures are forecast for south and west texas. experiencing the driest springs on record and protecting drn

recent snow brought water above 85% on the eastern section of the basin. snow above 60 percent incoming the rei yo grand great lakes water level are while persistence and development of drought are anticipated. some improvement is forecast for north central alaska. the national drought outlook for the next three months developed by the interagency has provide an apen decks to the testimony. in december 2012 the federal partner and state collaborators, usda, interior, corp. ever engineers several to convene a national drought forum. it highlighted the need to increase public awareness of the drought and impacted community and also ensure support for

sustained monitoring and data collection. the nrcsgusd and these activity will build on the department of commerce signed if december 12. to bring together water management and scientist. in addition the western water federal support team representing twelve federal agencies was established in 2008 to support the western water state. to help the nation energy resilience to drought, they will work with the partner to improve the regional outlook for whether -- weather and climate conditions. unwhich are at particular drought sensitive locations and link between the processes such as ground water recharge that can help support economic

activity. no such division the river forecast center, the university of nebraska, and lincoln the u.s. corp. of engineer, water smart, the water census, western governor association. thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today. >> thank you. welcome. >> thank you, everybody. i appreciate this opportunity to testify on this very important topic. i would like to take the opportunity to thank senator hello for the kind welcome and assure him we in nevada know how fortunate we are that he is representing our interests back here in washington, d.c. my name is patricia.

i'm the general manager of the southern nevada authority. around the world, water utility are finding themselves on the front line of extreme weather events. the affects of the severe and prolonged drought have been particularly apparent in the desert southwest. especially in southern nevada. in 2002, after only two years of the now 13-year drought, we went from having a reliable fifty year water plan to facing reality of immediate, severe, and disability at a timing shortages.

the obvious first reaction is to reduce consumer consumption. in the new environment in which we find ourselves; however, this plan has to reflect programs having paid our customers to date nearly 200 million to remove brass and replace it desert vegetation. this is resulted in reducing or annual water use by approximately 29 billion gallon

even as population swelled by 400,000. today the resident of southern nevada can proudly claim a net water use of 75 gallons per person per day and that in the driest city of the united states. next we immediately begin to build new intake deeper to lake mead at the cost of almost $1 billion paid for entirely by our customers. finally we're developing a water supply that is hydrologically independent of the colorado river. as a river community sharing a resource with six neighbors in the united states and the country of mexico, the impacts are being felt by all of us. for all of us, the need to corporate has never been greater. therefore, the importance of the interim shortage agreement signed be state if 2007

and funding project to extend the resources of the fragile river. today lake meed is 10 feet higher than normally be because of the efforts of these three agencies in mexico. even the most thoughtful and prudent strategies won't work if they can't be implemented. adapting to challenges ranging from severe drought to heavy precipitation or rising sea level requires investment and water infrastructure.

full-time implications are staggering. we know that local rate payers and the community it becomes that much more onerous if new nice we urge you to remove any acement. i can't come before you without addressing the critical need for research. focused applied research. to that end we recommend the federal government partner with a water research foundation to optimize the value of research investment

thank you i my name is michael weber. i'm i'm here to share my perspective. the testimony will make a few key points. firstly, the energy sector is dependent on water as you noted in the opening remarking. secondly, the water constraint from dprowt can be become energy constraint. the first point, the energy sector dependence on water introduces vulnerability to drought. it uses a lot of water. it's needed for power generation and fuel production. it's used for refriening and

other step. the other production the most important. for power generation we use water directly to and indirectly

>> introduces a significant and risk of economic activity and of human health during the heat wave in 2003 responsible for 10,000 deaths they had to reduce the power output because of

the temperatures of the water and eventually that caused a backup of power it was a risk to human life there and then the other he waves that the government said risk as well and then this also had the effect with the dams to reduce collection from power plants in 2008 they were within days of turning off and a drought lasted that triggered a power outage affecting 600 million people. we know drowse can affect the private sector. we also know that we're at risk for some of the same problems. several ways to reduce the of vulnerability we can stall or switched the fuel like natural negative cent solar and wind a cycle board to hydro wet or dry cooling not all plants need what cooling also soared switched to say leet -- saline or

other wet waters and accused for oil and gas production also used to grow biofuels that needs 1,000 drones of water compared to a couple of gallons of water with conventional oil and gas. is also a risk for drought just as the power plants are. shale gas requires p.j. one and 9 million gallons of water per well when also terminate the waste water so they are at risk and some places in texas considering prohibition against using local ground water for shale and oil and gas production. one way is to look at water reuse technologies will well to well in hand technologies to speed up drilling time and reduce the amount of water needed and using gray

water instead of virgin freshwater. there are a variety of solutions available am personally this is a topic worthy of federal policy in the trend because many watersheds and several state so they cannot manage it themselves and i recommend the following actions be considered. a number one major updated comprehensive data to the u.s. geological survey, there is an extensive database of comprehensive information on production and price we do not have the equivalent for water inconsequent the industry and analysts wax suitable water data up. and you can encourage fuel switching and encourage it to save energy and go back and forth with low water fuel and switched to other forms of water. we can support use of a hydro cooling power plants

these are stocks it mean less water with new franking techniques and invest aggressively and it conserves water. that concludes my testimony thank you very much in repeated the talk about switching and conservative think those are good principles. switching and conserve it sounds like a law firm. [laughter] though last witness is dr. carter. >> chairman and drinking member another ranking member state teefour of behalf the invitation to appear before you. i'm a specialist in natural resources policy. my testimony today we'll cover it up some of the nonagricultural and backs including navigation and

electric power generation as well. today their fears of flooding on some of the same rivers were reword about drought not very long ago. that drought destroyed damaged a significant portion of u.s. corn and soybean crop with impact on livestock that had reached record levels. corn yields or ethanol production and they also had impacts on our navigation system. for those moving products the waterways in 2012 drought raised fears of a repeat of what happened to the 1988 when we saw extensive closures. in 2012 commercial navigation did suffer short-term closures and disruptions but not the same extended closures. by most accounts it maintains a congressional lee authorize navigation channel. the authorized channel is significantly narrower and

shallower than what we are accustomed to. as a result toes had to move the barges that work had to be light loaded. these were difficult but the extended closures of 1988 were voided. the impaired navigation renewed discussion between the missouri river in the mississippi river. the federal reservoir in missouri river system have multi-year and multipurpose storage to assist and managing the drought and flood the core operates the reservoirs' according to a manual adopted 2006. the basin water district includes instances of dry conditions lasting one or two years but also multiple examples of dry conditions lasting six or 12 years. after record runoff in the

missouri basin federal reservoirs were full and early 2012 during the dry summer and fall the core release stored water for navigation. and uncritically supported the mississippi river navigation. recently the assistant secretary of the army says they lack the authority to modify missouri operations to benefit downstream mississippi river navigation and. based on declining reservoir levels and 2013 runoff forecast the corps has amended minimum releases for the winter thus reducing contributions from the misery to the mississippi beginning late december. how recent storms could affect forecast but what is known that managing could be a difficult tradeoff such as whether to release stored water in the near term to offset the near-term impact

or to store water for future use in case of continued dryness. the 2012 drought affected generation and impacts were at the power plant level and nuclear power plants curtailed operation due to water access problems and issues. others pursue regulatory waivers to continue operation at higher temperatures. that drought appeared facilities offset by other generation the mid continent electric create avoided major disruption in 2012. this experience contrast with the power grid serving most of texas which did have to ask customers to conserve during drought conditions in 2011. production nationally was above-average. hydropower generation to the pacific northwest was unaffected by the 2012 drought and the misery river

basin could be contributed to the full reservoir the most recent missouri river basin had a 20% reduction during 2013. says shows for large reservoirs suffering the multi year drought that most significant reduce generation also shown by the colorado river basin. the 2012 drought provides a single year of data for a significant portion of the united states is up to congress to decide what are the lessons to draw from 2012 with single and multi year. thank you. i am available for question. >> probably the all-time leading consumer of crf products you are doing good work. thank you very much.

let me go to you first. i have to do some organ business with you right here at the outset. severe drought is pounding the climate basin region of my stay. the bureau of reclamation says the base and has experience the second driest january through march on record. congressman walden and by an senator berkeley tried to secure a drought relief during the devastating drought from 2010 and we're now concerned with the get the same thing. oregonians want an assurance that the water will be cut off to the project this summer. can you give us that assurance this morning? >> at this point* i'm making give you my theory high expectation the water will not be shut off this year.

it certainly will be shut off in totality. to aspects of what we're doing in the climate basin based on the resources provided and the mitigation program that we set up with the folks locally we have mitigation measures in place , and other water supplies that access to in the climate basin that is in the neighborhood of 40 or 50,000-acre feet. in addition with a core operation what reclamation has 10 is redone the operations plan in a biological investment with asian routes by service and seeking a new biological consolidated opinion from those two agencies to improve those operations for this year which i it is a pate reels of a 5% water supply. that coupled with the mitigation program should

allow the project to operate this year. >> that sounds constructive but how does it take away the or didn't congressional delegation, myself, that we will push very very hard to make sure that high expectation water will not be cut off this summer becomes a reality because this area has been pounded. i think you know, we went to work closely with you and we appreciate the fact you have taken these extra steps but given what has gone on that this is emblematic of the government's desire to work for a fresh approach to solve problems, we have to make sure water is not cut off to the project this summer. you touched on it but let me ask it this way. when will the new biological

be completed? just unpacked data load bit more so we know when the knicks biological opinion will be completed. >> the expectation is we'll have the new biological opinion by the second or third week of may. actually that is the only reason we have been working very close with fishery agencies with good expectations to receive it at that point* of time and now it is in their hands in we are just waiting in receipt of the document. >> you are pushing ahead to work with the fisheries and just trying to make sure i could sort through with the biological opinions that are circulating and i appreciate that. we have already gotten your

pledge previously to work with our delegations to secure a drought relief and the willingness and let me move on quickly. since we brought you into the discussion already maybe we can start with your colleague, and each of you get to name one specific thing you would like to see senator murkowski and i pursue on the federal level to deal with the drought issue. obviously my time is almost out. you each get one specific. your number one priority bipartisan action in this committee to deal with the drought now. >> the major issue has to do without effectively we using information for planning. i would suggest the effort to do the research linking climate very lot variability and communicating that with

the reservoir energy managers and the sector -- sectors are critical to planning and operation. >> good information quickly shared. >> yes, mr. chairman, from the city's perspective since he already addressed to the research and better climate research and more direct climate research, i think for purposes those of us on the ground finding ways to make what is becoming the ever-increasing financial burden more tolerable his first and foremost, in our mind looking at billions of dollars that will have to be invested. communities have to build projects that aren't growth driven toward decaying infrastructure coming out of nowhere in order for whole communities to survive.